Daniel Perkins, director of Penn State's Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness and professor of family and youth resiliency and policy, was recently honored with the 2016 Federal Update and Family Life Specialists’ Career Impact Award during their annual webinar presentation.
Perkins has been designing and evaluating strengths-based family and youth development programs and leading complex projects for more than 20 years. His work involves teaching, research, and outreach through the Penn State Cooperative Extension Service.
Perkins is also director of an applied research center, the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness. The Clearinghouse is an interactive, knowledge-based platform for helping professionals supporting military families to support their program implementation and assessment activities. The Clearinghouse is specifically designed to promote and support: (1) the use of research-based decision-making; (2) the selection, dissemination, and implementation of evidence-based programs and practices; (3) the evaluation (process and outcome) of programs; and (4) the continued education of professionals assisting military families.
Perkins is also interested in hybrid evaluations of preventions and interventions, implementation science, and community-based delivery models. His scholarship involves the integration of practice and research, focusing on the transitioning of evidence-based programs and practices to their large-scale expansion into real-world settings. Perkins has conducted numerous studies on the use of evidence-based programs designed to enhance child, youth, and family health and well-being and the prevention of problem behaviors in children and youth. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, University of Arizona, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, Wallace Foundation, United States Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, United States Air Force, United States Navy, and United States Marine Corps.